Although the comic-book movie “Morbius,” with the ubiquitous Jared Leto, busts onto movie theater screens this weekend, your best bet might be cozying up with another dark comic-book tale you can watch at home: Disney+’s “Moon Knight” starring Oscar Issacs and Ethan Hawke.
That series, along with the thought-provoking and bewitching supernatural ditty “You Won’t Be Alone” (in theaters), highlight our picks this week.
Here’s our roundup.
“Moon Knight”: Disney+ steps into more adult-oriented territory with this intense, violent and sometimes mind-boggling six-episode adaptation of the dark comic-book series. Does it work? Mostly, but it does get quite convoluted, to the point of distraction. If you’re a fan of the comics, you’ll probably be fine, but poor souls like myself would have benefitted from footnotes sprinkled in here and there. That said, the story and the special effects are striking and impressive in a risk-taking series that works despite its opaqueness. That’s due mostly to Oscar Isaac, so facile at turnstiling between dueling accents and personas to portray super-smart London museum gift-shop worker Steven Grant and his quick-to-act alter-ego mercenary Marc Spector. Ethan Hawke makes a surprisingly strong villain, while the Egyptian-lore narrative pulses with derring-do that’s joyously reminiscent of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Directors Mohamed Diab, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead do a convincing job of sinking into the splintered mindsets of Grant/Spector while he searches for a relic. I’m hooked, and suspect you will be, too, even if you have to seek the consul of Wikipedia. Details: 3 stars out of 4; Episode 1 debuts March 29 on Disney+.
“Slow Horses”: It takes an episode or two to fire up the engine of Apple TV+’s twist-filled six-part series, but your patience gets rewarded in enormous ways. Director James Hawes methodically pours the foundation of a killer plot in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s first novel in the award-winning Slough House series. By Episode 2, Hawes and his with-it cast fully hit their stride in this John le Carre-like thriller, and later hit you with a smashing payoff, along with a promise of more delectable adventures in the future.
Gary Oldman stars as the leader of Slough House, a dumping ground for disgraced MI5 staffer who have gotten their feathers clipped due to bad behavior on and off the job. New to this bunch of misfits — dubbed “slow horses” — arrives dapper River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) riding small in the saddle after a bungled operation, which opens the series.
When a far-right group kidnaps a budding comedian/student whose parents are from Pakistan, MI5 agents, spearheaded and sometimes egged on by the driven, duplicitous Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) try to save him before he’s slated to be killed. Of course, there’s much more going on, including revelations about why some agents have been tossed into Slough House. The scenes between Oldman and Scott Thomas are thrilling to behold while the secondary cast, given rich characters with ample backstories worth further exploring in the future, make it one of the most satisfying spy thrillers in recent memory. Each episode improves on the other. Details: 3 stars; drops April 1 on Apple TV+.
“Better Nate Than Ever”: Disney+ celebrates the beauty of representation and differences with this peppy, sometimes tuneful mood-elevating adaptation of Tim Federle’s LGBTQ+-ready YA novel. The Foster City author and filmmaker wields a deft touch, presenting teen fans of Big Broadway musicals the love, support and song they need to help sustain them before they go on stage. Rueby Wood is a bolt of song-and-dance lightning as Nate, a 13-year-old who knows everything about showtunes — an obsession partly shared with his best friend Libby (Aria Brooks). While Nate’s parents are away, he and Libby beeline to Broadway for an audition. The trip leads him on a musical path that’s shared by his ostracized aunt (Lisa Kudrow), who works at catering gigs while auditioning for roles. “Nate” might not surprise you in its structure, but it has pleasant surprises up its gleeful sleeve and a heart as big as the Big Apple. Details: 3 stars; available April 1 on Disney+.
“You Won’t Be Alone”: Imagine, if you will, a cerebral mashup of Robert Egger’s moody “The Witch” with Terrence Malick’s evocative “Tree of Life.” That’s what you get with Goran Stolevski’s metaphysical supernatural tale, one of the finest horror films I’ve seen in years. Set in a 19th-century Macedonian village, it’s an astonishingly assured debut wherein a curse finds a woman, portrayed in one part by Noomi Rapace, inhabiting various human and animal forms as the essence of that person cycles through bursts of love, lust and bloodlust. It’s a mesmerizing, bold, jaggedly beautiful and occasionally violent portrait of the good and bad side of human nature from an Australian filmmaker with a clear vision. Details: 4 stars; in theaters April 1.
“How to Survive a Pandemic”: This eye-opening documentary illustrates once again how the wealthy get more attention and care in times of turmoil. Astute and fearless journalist/documentarian David France (“Welcome to Chechnya” and “How to Survive a Plague”) snapshots the response to COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the sprint to find, manufacture and distribute vaccines. The tight focus opens up to broader issues and questions that need to be addressed. Details: 3½ stars; available now on HBO.
“You Are Not My Mother”: Slow-burn horror works only when the payoff really pays off. Writer/director Kate Dolan perfects an escalating sense of terror here and totally sticks the landing. Her demented Irish folk tale finds three generations of women enmeshed in and haunted by events in the past. When the depressed/despondent Angela vanishes, her daughter Char (Hazel Doupe) becomes desperate while Char’s less-than-forthcoming grandmother (Ingrid Craigie) senses a disturbance in the supernatural force. She’s on to something, and that becomes evident when Angela comes back humming with a “Pet Sematary”-like vibe. Dolan has unleashed a fiercely smart and well-acted nightmare. Details: 3½ stars; available now on several streaming platforms.
“Mothering Sunday”: Much was made of the remarkably unsexy sex scenes involving Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas in Adrian Lyne’s terrible “Deep Water.” If you left that one feeling entirely unsatisfied, be prepared to get an eyeful in director Eva Husson’s highly charged retelling of a Graham Swift novel. The director’s film is too opaque at the start, but it gradually reveals its loftier intentions as a maid (Odessa Young) as a post World War I maid spends a sensual afternoon with her clandestine lover Paul (Josh O’Connor), who is engaged to someone else. Then things get complicated. Colin Firth, Olivia Colman and, in a rare performance, Glenda Jackson lend support. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Friday.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
Source: www.mercurynews.com